403 Forbidden

On the Monday after the annual World Naked Bike Ride in Portland, two things shouldn’t come as a surprise: Thousands pedaled through the city in the raw on Saturday night and some of the exhibitionism was fueled by booze.

But was alcohol a bigger problem than usual this year?

That depends on what NSFW recap you read.

(Full, um, disclosure: I wasn't there, since I would probably need more than a few drinks before I could bike through town in the altogether.)

Progressive Values blogger Paul Hooson said the ride was “plagued” by accidents and alcohol. However, police and other participants in the massive protest against society's reliance on automobiles and Big Oil disagree with that take.

“There may have been some (drunk riders) somewhere in the crowd,” Wyatt said, “but it was mostly a lot of people having fun. I didn’t see one rowdy rider. It’s pretty amazing when so many people can gather in a group of that size and just have a good time.”

“A number of businesses reported brisk alcohol purchases by persons who said that they intended to ride in the event. Merchants warned bicyclists to ride safely and not to use alcohol before the ride. However, such alcohol sales are legal as long as the person is of legal age and not intoxicated at the time of purchase.”

American Medical Response in Portland said it received three calls of bicyclists who suffered crash injuries serious enough that they had to be transported to hospitals.

The serious crashes all happened along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard -- at 17th, 24th and 37th avenues -- where the streets reportedly became clogged up, overly-cautious new riders began stopping mid-pedal and some bicyclists attempted to weave through the crowds.

“There was activity,” said AMR supervisor Frank Gmelin. “But nothing major came out of it.” Gmelin didn’t know if the crashes this year were any worse than those during past naked rides.

“I saw many drinking,” rider Reid Parham said on Twitter, “but they kept it reasonable; the EMTs were safe behind the ambulance — that (Progressive Values) story is overblown.”

The World Naked Bike Ride in New Zealand was reportedly cancelled this year because of problems with drunkenness last year. The Portland ride is part of the two-week Pedalpalooza bike-culture celebration. No one from Pedalpalooza was available to discuss Saturday’s event.

Robin Wouterra tweeted: “I've always ridden WNBR sober. I like to be in control in a crowd that size + alcohol makes me a sluggish rider.”

She added: “How do you effectively communicate safety to 10k people? It's a great idea, but there will always be someone in the back of the class who thinks he's too cool to follow the rules. Plenty of folks drive unsafely even though they've been educated.”